


May The Odds Be In Your Favour

by Bittodeath



Series: Integration AUs [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fallen Jedi, Force Bond (Star Wars), Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Integration AU, M/M, Mild Comfort, Possessive Behavior, Psychological Trauma, Sad, Time Skips, Unhealthy Relationships, dark side
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26598079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittodeath/pseuds/Bittodeath
Summary: The Sith have set up an Arena for their entertainment, where children aged from ten to twenty are pitted against each other in a fight for survival. Teams of two are regularly sent into the Arena, coming from the same place/culture. Eleven years old Jedi Initiate Obi-Wan Kenobi survived for a month with the help of Padawan Xanatos Du Crion, sixteen.But when Xanatos Falls and sets down to kill him, Obi-Wan meets the newly arrived Jango Fett, twenty, son of the Mand’alor... and a centuries old enemy.
Relationships: Jango Fett & Jaster Mereel, Jango Fett & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Xanatos
Series: Integration AUs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865311
Comments: 16
Kudos: 370
Collections: Integration: The Collection





	May The Odds Be In Your Favour

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Integration](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11920878) by [Millberry_5](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millberry_5/pseuds/Millberry_5). 



> I said "I'm going to work on my WIPs" and then hyperfocused on this idea which I dumped on the Integration server. So here, have this. It is not happy, and though the ending is ambiguous, it cannot end happily.
> 
> **Mando'a:**  
>  _shabuir_ : jerk, fucker.  
>  _ka'ra_ : stars.  
>  _dar'jetii_ : dark sider, no longer a Jedi.  
>  _ad'ika_ : kid.  
>  _dar'manda_ : no longer a mandalorian, a pariah.  
>  _vor entye_ : thank you.  
>  _ven'alor_ : future leader.  
>  _buir_ parent/father.  
>  _su'cuyi_ : hi/hello/still alive.  
>  _Haat, ijaa, haa'it_ : truth, honour, vision. Words used to take an oath.  
>  _runi / ner runi_ : soul / my soul.  
>  _buy'ce_ : helmet.  
>  _riduur_ : spouse.

“Hey”, Xanatos says softly. “It’ll be alright, Obi-Wan. I’ll protect you.”

The Initiate clinging to his hand nods and wipes his tears, and Xanatos swallows back his own fear. He’s sixteen and a Padawan in a place designed to break _Masters_. He’s not sure he could have survived by himself – with an Initiate to protect? It’s almost impossible. But he can’t let fear win – can’t let the Sith win.

He closes his eyes and pushes back against the nausea threatening to overcome him. He can _feel_ , in the Force, the things that were done here. In this Arena of despair and slaughter where children are set up against full adults. He can still feel them, all the horrors happening as he clutches Obi-Wan to him, unsure he’ll manage to protect him. Carefully, he wraps strong layers of shields over Obi-Wan’s mostly unprotected mind – his shields are the bare minimum for a Force-Sensitive child raised within the Order, they are not nearly enough to face the death and savagery waiting for them out there.

He touches the place in his mind where is bond with his Master was, flinching back at the raw edges of it. He felt his death, of course. Otherwise, Qui-Gon would have already done everything he could to retrieve them. He knows that. But his Master fell on the battlefield and Xanatos is left alone, with a child to protect. He searches for that place of peace deep within himself, calms down.

“Alright”, he says, “here is what we’re gonna do…”

*

Xanatos closes his eyes and clenches his fists, blood drenched, the headache growing in intensity. Mandalorians, Sith, Fallen Jedi, regular humans – even feral children barely older than Obi-Wan. He’s killed them all, protecting the little brother he will now never have without a Master between them.

He can feel himself slipping. For the past month, they have survived in the Arena. It is longer than most, apparently. But it is also enough that, with his constant shielding of Obi-Wan’s mind, his own shields have cracked. He will Fall, he knows it. It is inevitable now, and he knows himself enough to know that when he does, it will be a bloodbath.

He looks at the scrawny, malnourished little child he has tried so hard to protect. He won’t be able to anymore, and Obi-Wan isn’t strong enough to save himself. His death, too, is inevitable – remains the choice of sparing him a slow, painful, torturous death at the hands of those dwelling in the Arena with them. Mandalorians having renounced their vows, Sithspawns on the hunt for fresh meat, Sith acolytes looking for a game – he cannot let Obi-Wan suffer at their hands. If a clean death is the only thing he has left to give, then…

*

The Fall is seamless. Xanatos’ eyes flare gold as he channels the Dark side and pulls out his lightsabre. The Force, though, warns Obi-Wan and-

The child screams in terror, and runs.

The Dark Side roars, and thus begins the Hunt.

*

Jango is absolutely enraged, knowing the Sith expect him to kill kids. He’s looking for a way out when he stumbles on a small boy who is shaking like a leaf and obviously terrified and who tells him to run. The boy wears _Jetii_ clothes, but he's so _young_.

"Quick, he's coming!"

He didn't expect another _Jetii_ , this one much older, nearing adulthood, with his sabre out. At first he thinks that _Jetii_ is protecting the younger one from whatever is coming - that's what he would do - but then his stomach sinks when he realizes the _Jetii_ is the upcoming threat.

No wonder the kid is terrified, if his own turned against him.

Jango still has his armour, after all, it is a match to death. He doesn't know how large the Arena is. It's several kilometres, at least, he knows that much. He knows there is no way out but death. That it is only a matter of who will survive the longest. He doesn't quite know how many of them there are. The _Mando'ad_ who was meant to be his teammate fell into a trap - there was nothing he could do. He feels that failure bitterly - it was not a kid, no, but it was one of his own.

He'd tell the kid to follow his own advice and run but- but that child is so _young_ and the night is coming and who knows what else roams these woods. Who knows what traps have been laid.

He fires a first shot.

"Stay out of the way", he finally says. "That _shabuir_ will not lay a hand on you."

He doesn't know if it's a promise he can keep, but- bright eyes full of tears look back at him, and he knows it is one he must keep.

*

Jango blinks. He's won the fight, but- His arm is at an awkward angle with his shoulder, and there's a gash on his thigh. The good point is: it's not bleeding. The good point is: he's still standing. The good point is: the kid is safe.

But _ka'ra_ , at what cost? He's drained and it would make him easy prey, and no matter how he looks at it, killing the _dar'jetii_ isn't something the little one should have seen. He turns slowly: the child hasn't moved, but he still looks terrified. He takes a painful step; the kid flinches away. He stills.

He should have thought about it. In an Arena where even his own turned against him, a Mandalorian would be considered his number one enemy. The kid sniffles but he holds his chin high and straightens, for all that he's still trembling.

"Just make it quick, please", he says, and _oh_.

There are so many things wrong with that sentence.

"I won't hurt you", he says, and the kid gives him a firm nod.  
"Thank you."

There's barely any relief in his posture. _Make it quick. I won't hurt you._ That is NOT what he meant. The crack in his composure widens, but he can't break now.

" _Ad'ika_ , I'm not killing you. I don't care what the Sith said. I won't be _dar'manda_. Now come, we must find a shelter for the night, and this place is dangerous."

He holds out his good hand in invitation, but the kid doesn't take it.

"Y-You don't have to protect me. I'd burden you."

_Stars_ , what have the _Jetii_ been teaching this kid? He grits his teeth. The pain is making it difficult to focus.

"I'm not leaving you out there", he says, and there's more bite to his words than he meant to. "Now come, little one."  
"My name is Obi-Wan", the kid retorts, and then flushes at the perceived disrespect.  
"And I'm Jango, Obi'ika, but right now's not the moment. Come, please."

The boy grabs his hand, squeezing it tight, and doesn't let go. He'd lift him in his arms, if it wasn't above his current abilities. Instead, he guides him through the forest.

"Not this way", Obi-Wan whispers, tugging on his hand. "There are others there. They've killed severals already. Xanatos-" he gulps. "Xanatos didn't want me to see it, but I saw it anyway."

Something in him freezes, but he doesn't ask the question burning on his tongue.

_How long have you been there? How long did that Jetii hold before he tried to murder you? How much blood do I have to spill to avenge what was done to you?_

They find shelter in a cave, and he manages to put his shoulder back in place. He doesn't quite manage to keep in his cry of pain - that hurts when a medic does it, but himself, with only stone walls and sheer will? The pain reduces to a dull throb, though. He slowly sinks to the floor. His legs are not holding him up anymore, and he needs to treat that burn.

He falls asleep without meaning to.

He wakes up to muffled crying, and something shaking against his armour. Opens his eyes difficultly, sees bright red hair and gently, clumsily pats it with his gloved hands.

"It'll be alright, Obi'ika", he says, his voice a painful rasp.

How long since he last drank? He grabs his canteen, thankfully still half-full. Opens it with shaking fingers, and shoves it at Obi-Wan's cracked lips more roughly than intended. The kid drinks some, not enough, and pushes it away.

"You need to drink more", he says.

The effort feels like climbing a mountain - too much. He hears a faint clicking sound, and suddenly, his helmet is being lifted from his head. He blinks at the faint natural light. Obi-Wan's hands are small and gentle, cupping his head and holding the canteen to his mouth. Nurturing hands, from one used to taking care of others.

_But who took care of you?_

Is there anyone even coming for this kid? He doubts it. They must be deep in Sith space, the Republic doesn't have enough troops. He doubts they would even try.

He, however, will be going back home, if he can hold out that long.

He will be going back home, and he's taking Obi-Wan along.

" _Vor entye_ ", he says.

_Stars, let me not fail him too._

*

The ships come in at night, and for a second, Jango feels like he will shatter. He's kept himself alive for five days. That's far more than he gave himself on the first day, given his injuries. And not just himself: there is Obi-Wan, who is still clinging to his hand, and a Mirialan named Wenuve barely older than Obi-Wan. Arkon arrived two days before, and was both horrified and relieved to find the _ven'alor_ there. He died at nightfall, fighting to protect them.

The Mandalorians who have come with his father rain fire and death on the Sith, and Jango stumbles out of their hiding cave, Obi-Wan and Wenuve trailing after him. He recognizes the _Mand'alor_ from afar, and picks up his pace as much as he can. The gash on his thigh still pains him, but finally, safety is within his reach.

Jaster sees him and strides faster, but- Jango pauses, and turns. Obi-Wan runs to him and clings to his hand. Wenuve doesn't quite dare to do the same, but she takes Obi-Wan's hand and follows.

" _Buir_ ", he breathes.

He's lost his helmet in a fight when he retrieved Arkon. He looks like a mess, they all do. Jaster reaches out, and crushes him into a hug, and Jango buries his face into his neck.

"They killed kids", he chokes out. " _Buir_ , they killed them."

His father tightens his grip, but doesn't answer. Jango feels himself on the edge of falling apart, but now is not the place, not the time.

Medics come for him and for the kids, but- he finds himself crying out.

"NO", comes the gut-wrenching scream as he watches the children be taken away, and he throws himself off the gurney. Obi-Wan and Wenuve are frightened, and they shake the medics off to run back to him, back into his arms.

He breaks.

"Don't take them", he breathes, holding them as tight as he can, "don't, please don't" - he's seen _dar'manda_ in this Arena, felt himself shaken to the core with how twisted they'd become.

He buries his face in Obi-Wan's hair, tries to breathe, can only sob, because - he's too weak to protect them, but right now, right now he can't trust anyone with them. Wenuve is shaking, her eyes wide and dry, the fear too great for tears.

"Hey", his father says. "Jan'ika. We're not taking them away. I promise, no one is letting them out of your sight. But they need medical treatment, and so do you. Can you let go?"

His fingers are frozen tight into their clothes. He can't make himself unclench them. He's full on sobbing now, but he can't bring himself to stop, can't bring himself to let go. Neither Obi-Wan nor Wenuve seem to want to let go either, for that matter.

"I c-can't", he finally says, "I _can't_."

He misses his father's gesture - for a medic to sedate him. Everything falls away to darkness.

*

Obi-Wan knows the moment Jango wakes up. He feels the faint change in his breathing pattern, the slight hitch of someone regaining consciousness. More than that, he feels him shine a little bit brighter in the Force. Wenuve has fallen asleep curled up in an armchair. He curls his finger a little tighter in the soft material of Jango's shirt.

He hasn't left his side. The Mandalorian medics took care of them all in this room. The door remained open while they used the shower - he was still wet when he rushed back to the bed Jango was laid on, touching him, feeling his heart beat, his breath rise and fall. Making sure he's still alive, that this is not some horrible dream, not a hallucination.

" _Su'cuy_ Obi'ika", Jango says, smiling faintly.

His voice is raspy, and Obi-Wan buries his face in his chest, breath stuttering for a moment.

"Shh, it's alright. We're safe now. Everything will be okay", Jango whispers, weak fingers threading into his hair. "I promise, I'm not going anywhere."  
"You were dying", Obi-Wan whispers. "They said", his breath stutters, "they said you were lucky to keep your leg."

Jango winces. He'd known, of course, that the lightsabre wound infecting wasn't a good thing, but he'd had other priorities, and no means of treating it.

"I'm alive", he replies instead. "I'm alive, and I'm whole."

He's surprised the medics spoke in front of the kids - and then he realizes, maybe they didn't. Obi-Wan saved all of their lives several times, showing strength and skill Jango hadn't expected. He knows he wouldn't have lasted that long if he'd been alone.

"Are you angry?" he says after a moment.

There's a long silence.

"Jedi don't get angry", Obi-Wan finally answers.

Jango almost sighs. He knows it's what kept Obi-Wan alive all this time, his identity as a Jedi. Caring for others besides himself. That, and Xanatos. The Jetii he killed that first day. He doesn't quite understand what happened, from the pieces he picked up. Obi-Wan doesn't quite seem to know either. His only explanation was "he Fell", and that... that doesn't make any sense to Jango's mind.

"You can tell me if you're angry", he says instead. "It's okay to be angry."

Obi-Wan is shaking, and then he's rising, fists tightened into the fabric of his shirt and features pulled into a wrathful sneer.

"YOU WOULD HAVE LEFT US", he screams, and Wenuve wakes up with a start and falls from her armchair. "HOW COULD YOU, I TRUSTED YOU AND YOU WOULD HAVE DIED AND LEFT US." His voice breaks. "You would have left _me_."

Obi-Wan breaks into heaving sobs, collapsed on his chest, and Jango manages to sit up enough to pull him close and hold him against him.

"I'm not leaving you", he promises. "Not now, not then, not ever. It's a promise, Obi'ika. _Haat, ijaa, haa'it_."

*

Jango fires without looking, Obi-Wan's hand guiding his shot, his presence bright and luminous in the back of his mind. He has never really understood all the Force things his _runi_ talked about, but he knows what it lets him do. Knows that the light in his mind meant they'd never be apart again - one soul in two bodies, Obi-Wan said. That it means he always knows where Obi-Wan is and how he feels. That they can guide each other's hand from klicks away. That it means if they died, they'd do it together as well. One soul, two bodies.

More than a decade ago, after he met Obi-Wan, after the stars gave them to each other, his father had started a campaign against the Sith Empire. Now, that Empire has crumbled to last pockets of power held by the most powerful Sith lords.

The battle ends with a Mandalorian victory, and Jango finds his mate amidst the chaos. Helmet off, eyes closed as he lets the rain bathe his face. He feels his heart beat faster just from looking at him. He traces his features with water slicked gloves, feeling Obi-Wan answer in his mind - nothing explicit, just a bright, warm echo of his presence, his feelings. Obi-Wan opens his eyes and looks back at him, bringing his bare head against his _buy'ce_. Mind to mind and soul to soul, one as always.

"What have you seen?"  
"The _Jetii_ ", Obi-Wan answers, lacing their fingers. "They were angry. At what we are. That we are one."

Jango growls. He promised Obi-Wan they'd never be apart. He will keep it, unto death and afterwards, to the _ka'ra_ themselves.

Obi-Wan's vision comes true two months later, on a battlefield with Republic forces. Obi-Wan's helmet comes off with a blast, and the Jedi facing him stills.

"Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan Kenobi... I- it really is you..."

Obi-Wan pauses as well.

"I know you", he says after a moment. "Quinlan. You're Quinlan Vos."  
"Force, Obi!" The Jedi says, and starts to come closer.

Obi-Wan rises his blaster, and the Jedi stills.

"Don't come any closer", he warns.

On the other side of the battlefield, Jango feels tight pinpricks on his neck - his mate's anger and fear. He slays his adversary and runs to him, tackling the Jedi facing him to the ground.

No one threatens his mate.

"Jango! Jango stop!" Obi-Wan cries out, and Jango stills. The _Jetii_ takes the opportunity to throw him off and stand up again. He looks nauseated.

"Force, Obi-Wan, what has happened to you?" He says. "What kind of- twisted version of a Force bond do you have with him?"

Obi-Wan is trembling, and his expression enrages Jango. Reminds him too much of- No, he won't think about it, not that cursed place, they've burnt it to ashes.

"You never came for me", Obi-Wan replies, fear warring with anger. "The Jedi left us to die in that place, and you _dare_ lecture me?"

Jango shivers with the power he can feel gathering under Obi-Wan's skin. He remembers the electrifying touch of his mate in moments of such passion, when his emotions run high. He remembers a gruelling battle, the heated embrace that followed, and the circle of burnt and bare land around them afterwards.

He knows the _havoc_ his runi can bring.

Apparently, Quinlan knows it too, because he retreats and leaves the battlefield. Soon after, Republic forces are retreating.

Two days later, the Jedi High Council is asking for a cease-fire so they can meet. Jango watches, shriek-hawk like, as his _runi_ paces around their rooms. There’s a slightly burnt circle on the ground, from where he keeps on walking. Jango is pretty sure he's seen his mate's fingers throw sparks once, when they are one in all the ways they could, when he feels like clawing at his skin from the need to settle under Obi-Wan's, when everything in him _screams_ that being apart was rotten and twisted.

There is fear twisting his gut that isn't his own, concern he is pretty sure is his. There is anger, which he is certain was from them both. Emotions they share have a special flavour to them, always sweet on his tongue.

"Obi'ika", he calls, and Obi-Wan stills.  
"They'll want to tear us apart", his mate breathes. "Jedi have no attachments."  
"You have no attachments. Remember?" Jango said, standing up and pressing Obi-Wan's hand to his chest. "Mind to mind and soul to soul. Your heart is my own. One soul, two bodies." He presses their foreheads together. "We are part of each other, _ner runi _. They can't pry us apart. No by force and not by words. Breathe with me, Obi'ika."__

__They breathe together, settling back into a pool of undisturbed water, where nothing exists but themselves. Obi-Wan moves slightly, pressing their lips together._ _

__Jango knows better than to say _you are not a Jedi_. Knows better than to say, _you left that path long ago_. Knows better than to say, _you belong to Mandalore.__ _

__"You belong with me", he says. "By my side. As my _riduur_. As my own. And you and I, we belong to Mandalore. Remember?"  
"I remember", Obi-Wan sighs, and Jango presses his hand, hard and flat, against the mythosaur skull tattooed on his back, from his shoulders to the dip at the small of his back.  
"You, and me. Forever. I promised, Obi'ika."_ _

__

__They meet the Council on a neutral world, halfway from Coruscant and _Manda'yaim_. Jango is surprised that nearly the whole Council is there. He recognizes the Master of the Order on sight, as he does the Grandmaster - a small, green creature Obi-Wan has spoken of fondly. The betrayers who have abandoned his Obi-Wan to face pain and death by himself in a Sith arena. Had the area not already been razed to the ground, Jango would have done it again._ _

__He remains a few steps back as Obi-Wan approaches the Council, bowing to the Masters. Obi-Wan takes a knee when the Grandmaster comes close, ears back as if in pain._ _

__"So much pain there is in you, young Obi-Wan", he says. "Failed you, we have, haven't we?"_ _

__Jango focuses on breathing deeply, keeping his mate calm._ _

__"It is in the past", Obi-Wan replies. "I am whole, now. I am strong."_ _

__The master's ears tip back._ _

__"Whole, you have always been. Twisted and hurting, your mind is. Leashed with the Force, you have made yourself. Help you, we can."  
"I don't need your help", Obi-Wan replies, straightening, his eyes burning with fury, and Jango feels it settle in his loins, urging him forward. He resists, though.  
"Obi-Wan, you are unbalanced, on the edge of Falling", the Master of the Order says. "You and the _Mand'alor_ feel like wounds in the Force."_ _

__Obi-Wan's fury burns in Jango, and he bites his lips to keep in any sound even as he shivers from the feeling, from the strength he can feel, coiled but ready to unleash._ _

__"I have found my balance", Obi-Wan replies harshly. "One soul, two bodies. You won't take him from me. No one will."_ _

__Obi-Wan turns on his heels and marches away, and Jango follows. Revelling in the passion and fury his mate lets down on him, at letting the fire under his skin burn back to embers. Can’t bring himself to care about the handprints burnt into his skin, when they are one._ _

__"Do you think they'll try something else?" he asks as they lay skin to skin.  
"Let them try", Obi-Wan replies. "You made me a promise once, Jango. That we would never be parted." He turns his head to stare at him. "I'll hold you to it."_ _


End file.
